R.I.P. the G.O.P.

[crabby_lioness]

Once upon a time, there was a respectable political party that intelligent people could feel comfortable belonging to called the Republicans. (No, really. If you've never heard the words "respectable", "intelligent", and "Republican" used together without irony, here's a history lesson: "Do You Remember the Republicans?" http://reconstitution.us/rcnew/?p=7629 ) Somewhere in the 1970s-1990s, the party leadership went nuts. People argue over exactly when and exactly why, but that it happened is undeniable. By 2010, the nutcases currently in charge are waging an all-out war to "purge" the G.O.P. of the sort of moderately conservative voters who used to form the core of the Republican Party. One of those folks is not going quietly. He's written an eloquent essay on how the party he joined as a young man has now become a mockery of itself called "How the GOP Purged Me". Here's the opening:


I am an old Republican. I am religious, yet not a fanatic. I am a free-marketer; yet, I believe in the role of the government as a fair evenhanded referee. I am socially conservative; yet, I believe that my lesbian niece and my gay grandchild should have the full protection of the law and live as free Americans enjoying every aspect of our society with no prejudices and/or restrictions. Nowadays, my political and socio-economic profile would make me a Marxist, not a Republican.



I grew up in an era where William F. Buckley fought the John Birch society and kicked them out of the Republican Party. I grew up with -– in fact voted for the first time for –- Eisenhower. In 1956, he ran a campaign of dignity. A campaign that acknowledged that there are certain projects better suited to be handled by the government. See, business thinks in the short term, as he said. That’s the imperative of the marketplace. I invest and I expect that in a few quarters, I garner the fruits of my investment. Government, on the other hand, has the luxury to wait a few years, maybe decades, for a return on a given investment. As a former businessman, I know that first hand. Am I a Marxist for thinking that?



The rest of the article can be read here: http://www.frumforum.com/how-the-gop-purged-me



No, sir, I wouldn't call you a Marxist. I'd call you sane.



Unfortunately, I'm in my forties, and I can't personally remember when the Republicans were not nutcases. Even more unfortunately, many of the people who vilify this man can't either, and that's the way they want their Republican Party to be. But those who want more from this country's conservative political party than bigotted lunacy are gathering here to see if they can come up with something sensible the Republicans can be for instead of against: http://republicansunited.us/2010/04/whats-the-game-plan/



As a lifelong diehard liberal, I wish them well. We've all seen the mess that results from electing conservative nutcases simply because they were the only conservatives on the ticket. Government works best when it's run by intelligent people willing to work together with other intelligent people even if they disagree with each other, not by demogogues who praise intolerance as a virtue.

Comments

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

Scooping up a newly liberated section of society implies organisation.

Not necessarily. Did your side of the pond ever get a book by Susan Faludi called Backlash: the Undeclared War Against Women? Oh yes: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Backlash-Undeclared-War-Against-Women/dp/009922271X/ Faludi showed that massive socio-political movements could happen without organization. If a million bigots think that women should be punished for being "uppity", they don't need organizing. The combined weight of all the petty things they do (and more importantly, all the passive-agressive things they don't do) is enough to gum up the works all by itself. At that point organisation is just the icing on the cake.

Likewise, if a million newly liberated people think to themselves, "Conservatives have held me back, now that I have a choice I choose to go in the opposite direction" nothing will hold them back. You don't need to organize to recruit them. In fact, even if you organized to STOP them from joining your liberal organization you would probably fail. This is exactly what happened in the US with Paganism and Wicca during the 1990s. Millions of people decided Christianity wasn't for them and that they were going to be Wiccan/Pagan and they smashed through the organised Wiccan/Pagan community as it existed then like a tidal wave. Nobody organized to recruit them, as recruiting is anathema to Modern Pagans. People actually tried to stop them, or at least slow down the tide so they could control it better, but to no avail.

[swordznsorcery.livejournal.com]

That's a good point. I hadn't looked at it from that angle. I suppose that leads us to the main difference between British and American politics, then, which is namely that it's less of a two-horse race here. Gay people, for instance, don't tend to vote Conservative, but they needn't move to Labour instead. They could turn to the Liberal Democrats, or to the Greens. Similarly, the scary types have their own smaller parties to turn to, so whilst the Conservatives have seemed to become more right wing, they haven't become as scary right wing as they could have done. They'd never elect a leader like Bush because he'd be off in one of the minority parties, like UKIP or the BNP.

It's a mixed blessing, because it does split the vote, but on the other hand it helps to keep the nutters segregated. The Republicans could certainly do with ejecting a few of theirs into a handy little fringe party. That way the sensible ones can get back to worrying about the economy, and let the scary ones mutter on the sidelines.